


Crash Black

by Maizzy



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Noir, Angst, F/M, Film Noir, Fluff, Humor, Slow Burn, it's the law, listen everything is black and white and covered in film grain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:11:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5154935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maizzy/pseuds/Maizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bullets smashed into the waves over her head, driving her deeper under the water as she tried <i>very</i> hard to not get <i>very</i> dead.</p><p>Hell.</p><p>This had <i>really</i> not been her night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tuesdays

Bullets smashed into the waves over her head, driving her deeper under the water as she tried  _very_  hard to not get  _very_ dead.

Hell.

This had  _really_ not been her night.

Tripping had been fortunate. If not for the frigid water, she’d have been riddled with holes ten minutes ago when the first bullets had started flying. Which, again, would have been counterproductive to the Not Getting Very Dead plan. Dealing with the undertow to get that tiny bit of cover from the goons with the .45s? Worth it. Under the water was definitely the place to be.

So long as she didn’t go so far that she would never manage to surface again, she’d be fine.

Though catching a decent breath would probably make things even more fine. Breathing had become rather hard to do when she hit the freezing water. Then also there was that “freezing” part. Her arms and legs still clenched and shook as she swam, which meant she wasn’t ass-deep in hypothermia yet, but that it would be  coming soon. So maybe the water wasn’t actually the place to be.

Another bullet crashed into frothy waves.

…Or maybe it was. Who was she to judge?

Either way, it wasn’t like she had a plethora of options at her disposal.

Eres paddled under the dock, hoping to find some cover as she broke the surface for air. Another bullet shattered the wood only a foot or so to her right, sending a spray of splinters flying towards her eyes. She jerked back and dipped her head under the water again. At least the icy sea served to dull the burn on her left hand and the gaping bullet wound that she hadn’t been lucky enough to avoid. Come to think of it… it dulled nearly everything… oh… oh shit…

She kicked at the water as black ringed her vision, managing to push again above the waves.

Sirens blared. Footsteps creaked on the boards above her.

“Did you get her?”

“Yeah, think so. Water’ll freeze her any how.”

“Right. We gotta move.”  

The voices grew hazier, swimming around her mind in a way that she was supposed to be doing herself. The cold iron seeping into her limbs seemed to have other ideas for her, though.

Shit.

The whole Not Getting Very Dead plan was looking less and less likely.

She was sinking.

Down, down, down.

-

“We can’t just keep her here.”

“That is exactly what we must do.”

“She needs a hospital! I will not have her death on my hands.”

“Her death is what will come if we expose her by dragging her through the official channels. You know this. She was there, Cassandra.”

“It is a moot point if she dies on this table.”

Wood scraped over wood. Expensive leather footsteps tapped over scored and scuffed floors

“Perhaps I could be of some assistance?”

The hammer of a revolver clicked and all fell silent.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Solas, though I doubt there is time for proper introductions. I can offer medical attention to this woman.”

Silence.

“Leliana…”

“Fine. But you saw nothing. Not a word of this to anyone.”

“As you say.”

Warm hands touched on the agonizing pain that was where her lower abdomen was supposed to be. Pain shot on a direct line to her mind; stabbing, driving, maddening enough to tear a scream from her throat. She jerked under the hands, eyes flying open, though unable to focus. Dizzying lights and colors flashed, and lilting, looping music flooded her senses. All of it underpinned and emphasized by a salty, steady ache in her bones.

“Detectives! Hold her still. We must get the bullet out if she is to have any chance of survival .”

Hands gripped at her arms, pinning her to the wood under her back. Eres struggled, horror and disorientation flooding her with adrenaline.

“Miss. You must stay still,” the stern voice commanded. She couldn’t see. The hazy shapes, the sounds, it was too much.

Eres scrunched her eyes shut, breathing hard.

There was a trick she’d learned once, back when she’d had another encounter with a situation that she would much rather forget. The world was spinning a bit too much for her escape to be anywhere near as spectacular as it had been the last time, and they had definitely relieved her of her spare dagger, but maybe she could just…

Eres stilled - stopped struggling completely and did her very best impression of corpse.

“What’s happened?” One of the voices asked.

The hands gripping her slackened for the barest minute and Eres was up, running full tilt for the blurry shape that looked vaguely like a door.

“Stop her!”

She sprinted through the dark… wherever she was, trying to find another sort of door-shaped thing. Through a combination of dumb luck and what must have been divine intervention, she did.

She flung it open and pounded out onto the cracked cement and two week old snow of an alley.

Skidding and slipping, she ran, banking a hard left as she hit a corner edged with a chainlink fence. Up ahead, softly glowing street lamps and club signs illuminated the complete lack of foot traffic on what looked to be a quiet, midtown street. There was safety in numbers, but she had none; no convenient crowds to lose herself in, no pedestrians to beg for help. Not on a tuesday. And  _of course_  this would all be happening on a tuesday instead of a nice, convenient saturday.

At least the trench coat and underthings look she seemed to be sporting wouldn’t draw much notice. Her captors must have stripped off her soaked clothing to call a halt on her freezing to death. Although now it could still be a concern, since this mad-cap escape had so far been undertaken with the coat billowing behind her and her tits and ass out for all the world to see. It was a damned cold night in Val Royeaux. Eres tugged the belt of the trenchcoat tight around her waist.

She muttered a curse that puffed out as fog in front of her face as footsteps slapped through the slush back in the alley.

Steam swirled around her shaking legs, rising up from the metal grates under her feet as she wavered on what to do next. It looked for all the world like some arch demon from the stories was camped out under the city and was trying its very best to block her view of non-icy places to plant her steps.

“Miss!”

Whatever.

Fuck arch demons, because to hell with slipping at a time like this.

Eres dashed right, ducking into another alley.

On and on she ran, trying to catch glimpses of street signs so she could orient herself towards the alienage. Probably she could scrounge up a place to hide out there. Potentially even a soft bed for the night. She was Dalish, but elves took care of their own. Maybe. Sort of. Hopefully? Well, she could find one of her stashes and rustle up a gun or two. One way or another, a bed would eventually be entering the equation for her tonight.

One minute she was sprinting, the next she was nose and chest against a brick wall.

And standing in an icy puddle, for that matter.

It was really the puddle that pissed her off the most. Not the stinking breath blowing past her cheek and making its way to her nose; not the steely forearm pressed to her shoulder blades; not even the arm snaking around her waist and sandwiching her between the wall and the overlarge body behind her. It was the damn puddle. After the night she’d had, water seeping over her sock-clad feet was a step too far.

“Well, look what I’ve-” The thug started to say.

“Nope,” Eres decided, and snapped her elbow back directly into his solar plexus as she stomped down on his toes with her sock-covered heel.

The man wheezed and let go of her. She spun, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanked his head down to her waiting knee.

She stepped out of the puddle.

Problem solved.

There was a glint of a pin on his lapel. A pin with a flaming sword cut in with red. Or maybe the problem wasn’t solved. That… that wasn’t good. Templar. He was a templar. And where there was one templar, there was bound to be a few more nearby.

She backed away.

“Drop your weapons!”

Eres’ head snapped up to find two people with guns on her.

Shit.

She put her hands up and called, “You know I don’t have any. Thanks for that, by the way.”

The red-haired woman jerked her chin towards Eres and the dark-haired one advanced on her.

Eres contemplated running. Then she contemplated just how much a bullet in the back would hurt, which was exactly what would happen if she tried to move away from the double act staring her down.

She sighed and leaned back against the brick wall, arms still raised.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two more figures making their way through the clouds of steam obscuring the far end of the alley.

“You caught me,” Eres acknowledged as the dark-haired woman bent to check on the pile of templar laying in the puddle.

“What did you do?”

Eres lowered her arms into what she hoped looked like an innocent shrug. “Survived?”

One of the approaching figures whistled. “Some survival. Seeker, care to comment?”

The dark-haired woman growled low in her throat and stood. “I told you earlier. This entire evening is still off the record. Chasing along with me does not change that.”

“Ohhh, but think of the head lines! Rogue suspect brought in for questioning after daring escape.”

“Questioning?” Eres asked.

They all ignored her.

“‘Daring’? You would suggest that she is some sort of hero after this?” The woman toed the templar at her feet.

The dwarf doing the talking waved a hand. “Readers love an underdog.”

The dark-haired woman groaned.

The other man standing with the dwarf took a step closer to Eres and she jerked back, flattening herself to the wall.

He frowned, holding his palms out in front of him to show he was unarmed. To the dark-haired woman he said, “She should not be kept out in the cold any longer than is strictly necessary. The bullet wound will require immediate attention as well.” His eyes slid back to Eres and she frowned at him, not liking the way his overly-attractive voice was tossing out judgements on her well-being without any consultation from, you know, her.

“Your feet are wet,” he observed.

She nodded, not giving up on her frown. Then she shivered despite herself. Drat.

The redhead stalked forward, drawing a pair of cuffs out from the waistband of her trousers. “You will come quietly, I assume?”

Did she really have much choice at this point?

“Are you taking me to the precinct?” Eres asked.

The two women exchanged a look.

“No,” the dark-haired one sighed. “To the club for now.”

Eres raised a brow. “Club?”

“Haven,” the dwarf supplied.

Well, she could use a drink.

“Fine,” Eres said, holding out her wrists.

No one suggested helping the templar back to his feet.

The redhead clinked the cuffs shut and off they went, back through the labyrinthine alleys to the club called Haven. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allow me to offer up this [picture](http://maizzycakes.tumblr.com/post/132649007967/sooooo-ive-been-sitting-on-cough-writing-too) as a little glimpse of things to come.


	2. That Bad

He hummed as his fingers ghosted over her side. Not a happy hum. Not an out-for-a-walk-in-the-sunshine-life-is-good hum. More of an I-am-trying-not-to-tell-you-bad-news hum. The hum didn’t seem to quite cover it all, though, because he said the bad news anyway. “The wound has started to heal itself. Likely due to the saline seawater from earlier.”

He pulled his hand back from Eres’ bared waist and rubbed at a spot between his eyebrows, not managing to smooth away the worry lines he had been sporting ever since she had shucked off the trench coat and let him examine her again.

To his credit, he hadn’t stared at the lingerie.

It was some of her best too - silky, just a bit of lace. She always wore her best for more dangerous jobs. No way she would be caught literally dead in a gutter in a patched, old, cotton number, if the worst was to happen. Lo and be hold, it had somewhat paid off this time around.

Eres sighed. “Didn’t get the bullet out before I ran?”

“No.”

Eres sighed some more. This was not going to be fun.

Wordlessly, the man stood and left the room, leaving the door open enough for the muffled tap of an-age mellowed piano to drift in. The sharp soprano of the red-haired agent’s voice broke the smooth notes, asking “How much longer”. It was cut off as the man re-entered, holding a glass and a bottle filled with some amber liquid, and latching the door shut behind him.

“That bad, huh?” Eres asked, eyeing the bottle.

He poured a measure, glanced again at her waist, and poured an extra splash more.

Eesh. Definitely that bad.

Unthinking, Eres reached out for the proffered glass and hissed in a pained breath, letting it slip through her singed fingers as soon as she’d gotten ahold of it. Before it had the chance to go more than a few inches, the man caught it, minimal spillage involved.

He stared at her as she stared at her hand. In all of the fear and other assorted pains plaguing her, one hand, well done, had barely even registered.

“Ow,” Eres commented, flexing her stiff fingers and regretting it immediately.

“I would recommend using only your uninjured hand for the time being.”

“Doctors orders?” She asked through gritted teeth, reaching instead with her right for the much needed whiskey.

“I am not a doctor,” he said as she knocked back the shot.

Eres choked on her drink, sending a few drops spattering onto the not-doctor’s clean, white shirtsleeve. “Is this really the time to be telling me that?”

He smiled. Or at least, his mouth stopped being so stubbornly downturned. “Would you prefer I had lied?” Any softening of his expression that might’ve happened disappeared when he noticed the little dots of brown liquor on his shirt.

She did a couple of deep breaths; in through her nose, out through her mouth. Well, it wasn’t like he could make her any worse off at this point, right? Right?

Eres eyed his sharp-cut bare face as he wiped at the shirt. Not Dalish. Not a doctor. Alienage healer? That seemed likely. Either way, the thought of going to a hospital gave her hives. Human-run and sterile, they were not the place for a marked Dalish with a gunshot wound to be. Not when they would want to know how she had gotten it… or, more likely, when they would decide how she had gotten it all on their own, and turn her over to the authorities.

She held up her empty to glass to him. “I’m definitely going to need another of these.”

He refilled her cup twice more before Eres felt ready to face any sort of bullet removal, though immediately wished she’d had at least a few more drinks as soon as the not-doctor began.

The pain was overwhelming, made entirely worse by the fact that she had to sit very still and let it happen. She hated that. Being productive was a distraction. Fighting through things was a distraction. All she could do now, though, was watch with a sort of horrified fascination as he carefully worked the bullet out of her abdomen. His hands never once shook, though every inch of her involuntarily tensed when the thin knife he had borrowed from the bar touched on the bullet in her side.

“You are Dalish, but clearly away from the rest of your clan. Did they send you here?”

His eyes stayed on his work, but all the same: “None” - Eres gasped as he located the bullet, blinking away tears - “of your business,”

“I had thought a distraction might be welcome.”

“You thought wrong - ahh!” Distractions were all well and good, but having the person performing battlefield surgery on her participating in the distraction was not. No, this not-doctor should stay nice and focused so they could all get this over with and she could be on her way. Her very dalish, none-of-his-business way. Why was he even asking about her clan? Most city elves thought of the Dalish as either saviors or boogeyman. There was not much in-between, and there certainly weren’t many questions asked either way.

“As you wish,” he said, and plucked the bullet out in one swift move.

Eres convulsed, curling in on herself against the waves of pain.

The bullet clacked into a bowl the man had set aside, and through her swimming eyes she saw him root around for a few strips of clean cloth.

She had to will herself to uncurl, sweating and shaking as he fixed the bandages to her side.

“Thanks,” she mumbled as he stood.

He gave her a nod before turning to leave, but paused with his hand on the door. “You should consider staying here, at least for the night.”

“What?”

“The streets, the alienage, the city as a whole is unlikely to be welcome for you for the time being.” Her face must’ve shown some of her surprise, because he raised a brow. “You were shot. That means you were seen, at least in some small measure. They will be looking.”

“‘They’,” Eres repeated slowly, turning the word over in her mind and examining it from all angles. A dull thud cracked through her head, as she tried to understand it, little hazy spots bursting before her eyes.

The man took his hand from the door, and turned back to her, an odd look on his face.

“Do you…” He trailed off, and shook his head. “I expect the detectives will be with you in a moment.”

“Thanks,” she said again, louder this time as the door closed behind him.

She let her eyes close and focused on steadying her breath in the now quiet room. The not-doctor wouldn’t be able to hold off the detectives long, but she hoped that he might at least buy her a few minute’s peace. Soon, she fell asleep.

\---

“What do you mean you don’t know?” The detective that Eres now knew to be called Cassandra demanded an hour later.

Eres tried again to explain, but it wasn’t doing much good. “I remember… the explosion. Running. People were chasing me. And then I was on the docks. Tripped and well, you know the rest. What did happen?”

“It… would be easier to show you.”

Surprised, she followed the detective out of the little room-turned-sickbay to a dark club. Warm jazz music pooled around her, the sultry ting-ting-ting of the piano hammering its mellow tunes into the dark, smokey atmosphere. Small candles dotted the assorted old-wood tables and a handful of patrons leaned back in darkened corners, nursing their, what Eres assumed to be, very strong drinks. This place had that feel to it. Cozy, warm, and like the bartender was not playing around with his craft.

Had it been under any other circumstances, she would’ve absolutely put that theory to the test. As it was, the detective hustled her through the little clusters of chairs and out to the small entrance foyer.

Taking up the bulk of the tiny room was a qunari. One even larger than the few Eres had seen before. He gave the detective a nod as she shunted Eres out into the night, but said nothing.

The detective, as it turned out, had a nice car. A _very_ nice car; all shiny metal grill and deep black paint job. It was waiting for them at the curb, and Eres took a minute to run her fingers over it in sheer appreciation before sliding onto the spacious leather seat.

“This one of those new V8s?” She asked, but the detective ignored her. She decided to go on believing it was once the engine purred to life. Eres had only ridden in a car on a few occasions, but something about them was pure magic to her. The way the moving parts worked together to make something so heavy and sturdy move was endlessly interesting. That and that they were just pretty - like, huge, shiny moving statues more and more starting to clog the streets.

They roared away from the curb and Eres tried to get a better look at the area around the club to get her bearings. Surprisingly,the alienage wasn’t all that far from the club they had just left. Her plan to hide out there would’ve worked just fine if it hadn’t been for that templar getting the drop on her in the alley.

She could slip out now - dive out of this car and continue on with that very same plan since that the bullet was taken care of - but something kept her rooted to her seat. What had that man said? That the city was an unwelcome place for her? It was always unwelcome since she was Dalish, but he had managed to make that sound even more grim than all of the regular prejudice and bullshit. Then she hadn’t been able to _remember_ why he might even be saying that. Damned if that wasn’t the scariest thing. Her brain was all that she had these days, and the thought that it was actively failing her at something was unacceptable. She needed to understand why.

So she stayed in the car, and on they drove through the dark streets, not speaking to one another. Eres was just grateful that she wasn’t cuffed again. And surprised. Either this detective was very trusting, or very confident in her abilities to catch her if she ran.

Finally, they rolled to a stop in front of a sight that sent shockwaves skittering through Eres’ mind.

The prison she had spent so many nights scoping out stood, proud and imposing as ever on the front side, but with the back third of it blown clean off.

“What happened to the Fade?” She asked, stunned.

“I believe the proper name is the Federal Detention-“

“No one calls it that,” Eres cut across, too distracted by the sight of it and the strange blank spots in her memory to worry about her semantics.

“As you say,” the detective allowed. “What _do_ you remember?”

Eres looked up at her to see a look of such intense, burning curiosity, that she half-feared she would get singed all over again tonight. “Nothing. I don’t even remember being here,” she lied. The authorities were interested in the explosion, surely, not so much in the movement of one lone dalish person.

The words hung in the air between them.

“Nothing,” the detective repeated, the intense look of curiosity simmering down to faintly glowing coals. “I see.”

“What happens now?”

The detective sighed. “I am not sure. Without your memories, you help us little, but there is a chance that they might resurface. In the mean time, it is likely not safe for you to be seen, in case the people responsible for this recognize you. You should consider staying with us.”

“What, at that club?” Eres asked, surprised.

The corner of the detective’s mouth quirked up. “Yes, unless you would prefer me to arrange you a jail cell.”

Eres stared at her. “This isn’t some backhanded sort of house arrest, right? If I agree to the club option?”

“No. We are not arresting you. I doubt very much that you were the one responsible for the explosion.”

“Why not?”

The detective shrugged. “What could you have hoped to gain from such a risk? And if you did not do it, but you were near enough to be injured and hunted, you are likely our only witness.”

“But I just said that I don't remember anything!” Eres protested, not liking the way “only witness” sounded. Getting roped into a grand scale terrorism investigation was not something she could afford at the moment. She’d run back to the Dales before she let that happen.

Actually, she thought as she eyed the destroyed walls of the old jail, it looked like there might be nothing left for her here anyway, aside from more trouble. Maybe she should head home; ask to be assigned to a different city, a different job. They wouldn’t be happy that she had failed, but who could’ve foreseen something like this?

As she stared at the still smoldering crime scene, she asked, “What happened to all the prisoners?”

The detectives mouth set into a firm line. “There are a few cells left in the underground max security that remained undamaged, but the majority of the prisoners have either escaped or died in the blast.”

Oof. The city’s police force was going to have their work cut out for them. But if the max security had been untouched… perhaps she wasn’t going to be making her way back to the Dales after all.

“I see,” Eres said.

“Shall we return?”

Time to test this freedom theory. “Take me to the alienage,” Eres declared. If they truly weren’t holding her prisoner, they’d have to let her go. If the detective had been lying to her about that, and had intended to lock her up in that weird club, well, she could run out of this car without a backwards glance.

The detective stared at her, long and hard. Finally, with a disgusted sigh, she said, “You are making a mistake, but as you wish.”

The car rumbled to life and they sped off towards the alienage, Eres watching carefully all the while, hand on the door handle. When they passed through the gates that marked the elven part of town, she finally began to relax.

“Where should I drop you?” The detective asked.

“Anywhere’s fine.”

The car slowed to a stop and Eres turned to leave.

“If you remember anything, call us immediately. At the club,” the detective commanded as Eres stepped out onto the slush covered sidewalk.

Eres mumbled something in the affirmative that she fully intended to never follow through on, and slammed the door of the magnificent car shut before the detective could say anything else.

Shoving her hands into her pockets, she watched as the car pulled away and drove off down the poorly lit, icy street.

Finally she was alone, and this very long, very strange night could be at an end. With a sigh, she set off, wandering in the direction of one of her stashes and hopefully someone that would take her in for the night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo! long time, no see! I have no explanations for my absence other than that I finished up a big 'ol Vague Project at work that consumed my life for a while and that the holidays are always super crazy for me XD Sorry about that! 
> 
> How are y'all? Good bunch of holidays if you celebrate any of them?


End file.
